Joy
by K.E. Strokez
Summary: A slightly AU one-shot for Pride Month.


**AN: This is a one-shot, inspired by the SCOTUS ruling on June 26** **th** **, 2015. I'm not in the US, I'm not married and I don't think either of them (marriage or going state-side) will happen to me any time soon. But so many people have worked so hard for this moment to become a reality. And so many others could not see it.**

 **This is a bit AU.**

* * *

"Do you think this flag makes me look fat?"

Lena laughed. Her nerves about attending her first ever pride parade were beginning to evaporate as she and the rest of the people in the room got ready to head out.

Cathy, who had the massive rainbow flag wrapped around her like a toga, soon found that she couldn't walk without tripping all over herself.

"I think you need another one," Lena said as she walked to the other side of the room and found another flag.

"I'll never be ready in time!" Cathy argued. "Can't we just cut this one to make it shorter?"

"Know what?" Lena paused with the smaller flag in her arms "How about we fold yours up and pin it? That way we won't have to cut the flag."

"What'll we do with the one you're holding? Rules are rules: Debby doesn't want us leaving any of our stuff here."

"I have an idea," Lena smiled.

"Alright guys!" Francoise, their flamboyant and slightly insane coordinator flapped his hands at the door "ten more minutes!"

Fifteen minutes later, the sound of revving motorcycle engines sounded in the distance and got louder as their generating vehicles got closer.

"It's the Dykes on Bikes!" Someone yelled from outside the cafe.

The event had officially began.

"Someone hold that banner right!" Francoise began to shriek "Oh _Lord and butter!_ The center's almost touching the ground!"

The leather-clad adventurers whooped as they shot down the street. Lena was intrigued: she'd only ever seen photos of them.

"Calm _down_ , Frank-boy," La'Tanya – in full drag – sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror for the umpteenth time "not like we haven't done this before."

"You know how he is, Tanya-baby," Freak-went cooed as she tried to prize the mirror from her drag-sister "last year he almost had a heart-attack."

Freak-went got the mirror and spotted Lena's reflection behind her. The girl looked nervous. The drag queen turned round to face the college freshman.

"Child, you nervous?"

"A little bit," she admitted.

"You know what I do when I'm scared shitless at Pride?"

Lena shook her head. "It doesn't have anything to do with drugs, does it?"

"Oh no, Honey-girl," the drag queen shook her head "but it's got _EVERYTHING_ to do with adrenaline."

They marched out and Lena walked a few feet behind the drag queens. They didn't have the money for a float that year. But it didn't mean they couldn't elevate themselves on the highest – and most painful-looking – heels the student had ever seen. Freak-went and La'Tanya had specifically instructed Lena and Cathy to stay close to them.

"Oh my God! It's PFLAG!" Cathy laughed when she saw the stream of banners linking up to them from a side-street.

Lena turned to look, and was almost knocked over by the people walking behind her. Good thing her flag-toga wasn't as long as Cathy's, though. Something else made her stop in her tracks.

" _Mom? Dad?"_

And then she realized they probably couldn't hear her.

"MOM! DAD!"

She waved, and the once-angry co-marchers let her move through them and even cheered when they realized what was going on.

"Lena? Is that you?"

"You _really_ should have worn your glasses," the curly-haired student beamed as she hugged him.

"By Mary Magdalene's _sandals_!" Francoise shrieked from a few yards away "You're ruining the flow!"

"Looks like we have to get back in formation," Stef's mother laughed "we'll meet at the Appleyard when this is done. Deal?"

"I love you both _so much_ for doing this," the student in her flag-toga sniffled as she made her way back to Cathy and the drag queens.

The march ended, but the festivities did not. Someone from the ACLU stood up and made a speech, while everyone else tried to pretend they could hear what was being said – someone had messed up the sound system – and others secretly got drunk from their hip-flasks.

"This blows," Cathy sighed.

"Come on, honey," Freak-went said as she motioned for the both of them to stand up "follow us."

La'Tanya was even faster on heels than any athlete Lena had ever seen. It was almost hard to imagine he was a straight man and star of the track team.

She followed, and realized what they had planned.

"Are you _serious_?"

The bikes were lined up, and their riders were revving their engines.

"Pick one, and just _do it!_ " Freak-went shouted, before he led a two-man charge at the nearest Harleys.

No sooner had he landed in the passenger seat when the motorcycle took off. La'Tanya did the same, and was whisked away by her two-stroke chariot.

Lena and Cathy exchanged looks, shrugged, and ran.

She almost fell off the saddle, and then worried that her toga would expose too much of her the way she was sitting. And then she didn't care anymore.

"You might wanna hold on to me," came the instruction from a voice that made Lena's spine tingle.

The student did as asked, and the motorcycle was off less than a second later.

The rider's hair flew back into her face.

"YOU MIGHT WANNA PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOULDER!" The rider shouted "SORRY ABOUT THE HAIR!"

Lena loved the locks, but decided to follow instructions anyway.

They rode in a heart-shaped formation of seventeen motorcycles.

"HOLD ON!" The rider warned, as a signal was flashed somewhere ahead.

The bike picked up speed, and Lena screamed as the world around her became blurred.

She smelled the rider's shampoo, sweat and the sweetness that could only be the scent of the woman whose bike she had stowed away on. The blonde hair seemed to mix with her own as the wind blew through it. And the shoulder was so comfortable she almost forgot she was moving at over a hundred miles an hour down a sealed-off high street.

The ride ended too soon. The formation was broken and the riders pulled into a field to let their passengers off and congratulate each other on a job well done.

The other passengers seemed to leave when they dismounted. Lena leaned on the bike and waited for Cathy to appear. That was her excuse, anyway.

"I was...um...waiting for my friend to show up," she said "we're both wearing the same thing."

The rider took her bandanna off and smiled. "I don't mind. Matter of fact...I kinda wanna do that again."

"So do I," Lena admitted "that was...intense. And so much fun."

"I'm Stef," the rider introduced.

"Lena," the passenger replied.

"I like your toga. You come here often?"

"Oh no," the student admitted "this is my first Pride."

"It's my first Pride too," Stef said "I've always watched it from a distance. This year I decided I'd join in. Cos my parents aren't in town and all. And no one looks biker girls in the eye, so fewer people would recognize me."

"Hiding in plain sight," Lena smiled "clever."

"You don't disapprove? I thought the whole point of today is to be seen."

"We can't be who we are all the time," the student sighed "I'm lucky. My parents are supportive. But I still have to be careful."

"We all have to be, I guess," the blonde sighed back "doesn't mean we can't have fun, right?"

"Do you think the ACLU will win?" Lena found herself asking. "The marriage suit, I mean."

The blonde shook her head. "Honestly? No. I really can't see same-sex marriage being legal anywhere. I mean, sure: they love us on stage. They love us in fashion. They love us in the hair salons, they love us when we're closeted and doing great things. But they won't ever let us be open about who we are. And they won't ever let us marry. And if they ever _did_ let us marry it'd be some kind of lesser position. It wouldn't be given the same legal recognition as what people would call _traditional marriage_."

Lena squared her shoulders. "Do you have a pen and paper?"

"Always carry one around," Stef said as she reached into her jacket.

Lena scribbled something on the notepad she was given.

"I know I just met you, Stef," the student said "but I have to be honest: I'm an optimist. I think you're wrong. And on the day you get proven wrong: call me."

"That might not be for years," the rider laughed " _decades_ , even."

"I'll keep in touch once in a while," the student smiled "to let you know my phone number and address have changed."

"You're really serious about this, huh?"

"Of course I am. Now let's ride."

* * *

Connor and Jude were playing video games in the living room. School was out, and Lena was getting tired of looking at the same spreadsheet over and over again.

She had finished her work, but been seized by the urge to quadruple-check everything. Being a Vice Principal meant that she could not make any mistakes. But being human also meant that she deserved to rest on her day off.

She sat herself in the living room to watch the boys play.

"What's that?"

The name was something that involved "oid" and "X" and a number...maybe 4.

"Hey Mama, you wanna play?" Jude offered.

Connor snorted.

" _I'll have you know,_ " Lena got up from her seat, picked up the spare controller and sat on the floor with them "that I used to be a gamer."

"Yeah but this isn't _Space Invaders_ or _Pong_ ," Connor snorted once more.

Lena squinted as Jude reset the game so that they could add a third player. And then she kicked their asses.

"On my _GOD_ ," Jude's boyfriend sighed in utter defeat "you'd better not tell anyone."

" _Oooooooh_ no," Lena grinned "I'm putting this on the notice board outside everyone's classrooms. Ha! Save my score, Jude! This is going on the network!"

Jude laughed as he did, and Connor finally plucked up the courage to ask what had been on his mind.

"Hey Lena," he began "were you at Stonewall?"

"How old do you think I _AM_?"

He had clearly upset her.

"I'm not...well...I was just...it's like, Pride Month. And I don't know anything about...like, gay history and stuff."

"I wasn't at Stonewall," Lena answered "and neither was Stef. We hadn't even been born."

"Oh okay," he nodded "but have you been there? To the inn?"

"I've driven past it once," she admitted "I was too scared to stop and reflect."

"Why?" Jude asked.

She smiled at the question. "Because it wasn't safe for me to do that. Not back then, anyway."

"Is it safe now?"

"The Stonewall Inn is a landmark now," came the reply "so anyone can stop to look at it. I think it's even encouraged now."

"We should have, like, a field trip," Connor suggested "and you should take us there."

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?" Jude asked. "It's our history. Especially mine and Connor's. And yours. And Mom's."

"It's also the history of a riot," Lena replied "people got hurt. Property got destroyed. I don't think most parents would want their kids to travel across the country to a place with so many violent memories. But you have a point. It's our history. Maybe we should learn about it in school. And the marriage equality battle as well."

"Marriage is for _old people_ ," Connor cringed "most of us aren't gonna be interested in it. No offense."

"I think you should meet Edie Windsor," Lena laughed "or Ellen DeGeneres-"

"Ellen's cool. She's married. And she's young, so..."

"Ellen's older than I am," the curly-haired woman laughed "but if you say so."

"Why's Marriage Equality supposed to be so important to teens _now_?" Connor asked. "It's not like I'm thinking about marriage or any of that stuff."

"But wouldn't you like to have the choice, some day in the future?"

"I guess. But that's like _waaaay_ in the future."

"I'd like to have that choice," Jude admitted "I mean...I don't know what I'm gonna be when I grow up. But I'd want a family. And I guess...I'd want my marriage to be the same as everyone else's. But better. Happier. Like you and Mom, only...with dogs."

"You wanna go to the dog shelter tomorrow?" Connor seemed a bit absent-minded as he asked.

"Yeah," Jude replied "long as we watch a movie on Friday."

Lena listened to them and smiled. The front door opened and shut.

"I'm home my babies!"

Lena jumped off the floor and went to meet her wife in uniform.

"Whoa!"

She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her deeply.

" _You should get a day off more often,"_ the blonde grinned.

" _I think you should come upstairs with me,"_ the curly-haired one whispered as she took her wife's hand.

" _Why?"_

" _I feel like the new millennium has just started,"_ came the reply _"and you can't mark the dawn of a new age without an orgasm, Mrs. Adams Foster."_

"I have to do something first," Stef said when they were in their room and she had shed her belt.

"Go ahead," Lena said as she lay on the bed.

Lena's ringtone sounded from her trouser pocket. It was a private number.

"Hello?"

"You might not remember me," a voice said from the other end of the line "but this is Stef. You rode on my bike at Pride a few years ago. I just wanted to say...well...you were right."

The call ended, and the policewoman tossed her phone aside so she could pounce on her wife.

* * *

 **Happy Pride, folks!**


End file.
